Obama Moves Jobs Speech After Skirmish With Boehner

WASHINGTON — Any hopes that a kinder, gentler bipartisan Washington would surface once Congress returns after Labor Day were summarily dashed on Wednesday when President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner clashed over, of all things, the date and time of the president’s much-awaited speech to the nation about his proposal to increase jobs and fix the economy.

In a surreal volley of letters, each released to the news media as soon as it was sent, Mr. Boehner rejected a request from the president to address a joint session of Congress next Wednesday at 8 p.m. — the same night that a Republican presidential debate is scheduled.

In an extraordinary turn, the House speaker fired back his own letter to the president saying, in a word, no. Might the president be able to reschedule for the following night, Sept. 8?

For several hours, the day turned into a very public game of chicken.

By late Wednesday night, though, the White House issued a statement saying that because Mr. Obama “is focused on the urgent need to create jobs and grow our economy,” he “welcomes the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 8.”

The president had sent in the first volley with his request for a speech next Wednesday night, when Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is scheduled to debate his fellow would-be Republican presidential nominees for the first time.

“No, of course not,” the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, replied when a reporter asked if the timing of the president’s speech had been meant to play havoc with the Republican debate plans. He said that “one debate of many was no reason not to have a speech when we wanted to have it.”

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President Obama's plan for a speech on the economy was met with resistance from Speaker John A. Boehner because the date and time conflicts with a scheduled Republican presidential debate.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

Mr. Boehner was not budging.

“As the majority leader announced more than a month ago, the House will not be in session until Wednesday, Sept. 7, with votes at 6:30 that evening,” the speaker wrote. “With the significant amount of time, typically more than three hours, that is required to allow for a security sweep of the House chamber before receiving a president, it is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks.”

Mr. Boehner did not specify what votes were scheduled for 6:30 that evening that could not be moved. The House calendar shows that members are expected to vote on the “suspension calendar,” generally minor bills like naming a post office.

Congressional historians said Mr. Boehner’s move was unprecedented.

“The Senate Historical Office knows of no instance in which Congress refused the president permission to speak before a joint session of Congress,” Betty K. Koed, associate historian with the Senate, said in an e-mail. “Permission to speak in a joint session is given by resolution of the House and Senate, and arrangements are made through the leadership offices of each chamber.”

White House officials held talks with Mr. Boehner’s office into the night Wednesday. At 9:17 p.m., the White House released a statement to the news media saying it had agreed to change the date to Sept. 8.

A White House official said Mr. Obama and his advisers had chosen Wednesday because it was Congress’s first day back. "The debate was never really an issue," because there are a total of 20 and three this month alone, said the official, who would not allow his name to be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly. "Had Mr. Boehner told us he had a problem with Wednesday this morning," when the White House consulted him, the official said, "we would have done Thursday from the beginning."

The scheduling clash came at a time when public confidence in Washington to move beyond partisan bickering is at historic lows. The fracas also had the potential to rattle already jittery markets.

“If the objective of the White House and Speaker Boehner was to demonstrate to the American people that they have gotten the message from the markets and from voters that our economic straits are so dire that it is time to set petty politics aside, they have failed before they started,” said David Rothkopf, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration. “This childish gamesmanship regarding timing reconfirms to the world that Washington is a sandbox full of petulant children who don’t play well together.” He called Wednesday’s antics “late-summer silliness.”

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Speaker John A. Boehner rejected President Obama's request on Wednesday to address a joint session of Congress in a week.Credit
Karen Bleier/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In fact, Mr. Obama’s initial proposal to address the nation on the same night as the candidates’ debate immediately became fodder for heated talk-radio discussion over whether he was trying to upstage the televised event.

Before Mr. Boehner said that a joint session on Wednesday would not work, the debate’s sponsors had said their event would go on as planned — potentially creating a lively opportunity for counterprogramming. The sponsors did not specify a time for the debate, leaving open the possibility it would take place after a presidential address.

“We are thrilled that we now have a terrific opportunity to hear from national leaders of both major parties about the most pressing domestic issues facing the country,” the sponsors said in a statement.

Still, the political gamesmanship and the maneuvering over the optics of the speech left little hope of compromise once the speech takes place and Mr. Obama lays out his promised job growth proposals and plans to get the economy moving.

Just Tuesday, the president, speaking before the annual convention of the American Legion, criticized the Washington gridlock and said that he hoped the Congressional recess, during which time lawmakers returned home and presumably got an earful on voter frustration over partisan bickering, would usher in repentant Congressional representatives ready to compromise.

But Wednesday showcased only finger-pointing.

The White House said officials talked to Mr. Boehner’s office about the date and time before sending the letter, and “no objection was raised by them.”

Not so, countered Mr. Boehner’s office. Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said the White House had not discussed any possible dates for a speech by Mr. Obama before sending its request.

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He added, “It’s unfortunate the White House ignored decades, if not centuries, of the protocol of working out a mutually agreeable date and time before making any public announcement.”

Mr. Boehner was not the only one complaining about not being consulted. An aide to the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, said, “The House Democratic leadership was not consulted with respect to Speaker Boehner’s letter requesting a new date for the president’s address.”

A Congressional staff member said the White House chief of staff, William M. Daley, called the speaker on Wednesday morning and said the president would ask for a joint session of Congress, but did not indicate the time.

Earlier on Wednesday, before Mr. Boehner’s letter, Mr. Obama’s rivals were quick to heap scorn on the president’s move.

“President Obama has a troubling predilection toward diluting the presidency itself in order to pursue his political goals,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who was Mitt Romney’s spokesman in 2008. “His so-called jobs plan should be about more than just winning a news cycle against a Republican debate.”

Tim Miller, spokesman for Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former Utah governor and presidential hopeful, said: “Desperate political times for the president call for desperate political measures. This tactic won’t work though because his economic policies have failed.”

Not that the selection of Sept. 8 is free of complications. It is the first night of the N.F.L. season.

Michael D. Shear and Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on September 1, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Speaker Says No, So Obama Delays Speech. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe